All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones (Jenn Beckwith)

‘All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones’ by Jenn L. Beckwith

In 1974, a music revolution began with a band in New York City’s Bowery neighbourhood. They played in a small near-empty bar to an audience that included the ex-Marine bar owner and his dog. The band consisted of four misfits from Forest Hills, Queens with clashing personalities: an opinionated construction worker, a shy and towering sensitive soul, a high-energy Army brat, and a talented multi-instrumentalist immigrant. They formed a band with a unified look, sound and stage presence with the one thing they all shared in common: their love of Rock and Roll. They were the Ramones.  

The Ramones loved and respected their fans. Their dedicated fanbase was the motivating force for performing over twenty-two years across three decades until their retirement in 1996. These same dedicated fans collaborated in the creation of ‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’.  

This is an open love letter to Ramones from the fans and those closest to them, sharing their love in photos, artwork, and memories. In this love is where the Ramones spirit endures.

‘All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones’ is a 280-page fan retrospective celebrating the Ramones. With fan-submitted photos, meetup moments, and concert stories; also includes interviews from family and friends who knew the band. The new book also covers band history and biographies of each band member, the origins of rock and roll, the origin of punk, and what it means to be punk. 

‘All Good Cretins Go To Heaven’ was published and available worldwide from 23rd April 2026, as a fifty year commemoration of Ramones and their eponymous debut album, which was released initially on April 23, 1976.